The present invention relates generally to apparatus for manufacturing and packaging bricks and relates more particularly to brick blending apparatus for providing a selective mixing of rows of bricks from two sources in any desired proportion.
In the manufacture of bricks, the unfired bricks are conventionally loaded on kiln cars in a criss-cross stack known as a brick hack. The bricks are arranged in the hack in the form of grids set at right angles to the adjacent grid, each grid conventionally consisting of two layers of bricks set in face-abutting relation. The bricks in each layer are usually arranged in end-abutting fashion in spaced double rows to permit the bricks to be relatively uniformly exposed to the kiln conditions. There still remains, however, a sufficient difference in the brick firing conditions depending upon the position of the brick in the hack and the position of the kiln car in the kiln to produce color variations of bricks within the hack and between different hacks. Since bricklayers normally lay the bricks in substantially the same order in which they are packaged, it is desirable that the bricks be blended following firing and before packaging in a manner which will minimize the effects of color variations when the bricks are laid.
In some cases, it is desired to mix bricks of two or more colors or textures in a predetermined ratio or to add random accent bricks to a substantially uniform brick production run.
Equipment has not heretofore been developed which provides the flexibility of operation of the present apparatus to selectively effect either the mixing of bricks of the same type and color, the blending of bricks of dissimilar colors or types, or the addition of accent bricks in a random fashion.